Despite genetic screening tests that indicate the child she is currently fifteen weeks pregnant with will develop Tay-Sachs disease, a genetic disorder that leads to the inexorable death of the afflicted child within the first two years of its life, Patricia Duncan of Lexington, Kentucky has rejected her doctor's recommendation to abort her pregnancy and claims to be looking forward to raising and loving her baby 'as long as the Lord sees fit'.

Indeed, regardless of the absolute certainty that the mutations present within the HEXA gene of her baby's 15th chomosome will precipitate a steady, relentless deterioration of its mental and physical faculties before its inevitable demise, Mrs. Duncan steadfastly refuses to terminate her pregnancy on the basis of her philospohical opposition to the practice of abortion.

"I could never kill my baby," proclaims Duncan, the gender of which she has declined to be informed of in order to 'keep it a surprise', "Even if God chooses to take my child away before its first birthday, eleven months of life and love is better than none at all."

Added Duncan: "And besides, you never know; my baby could be the first to live a long and fruitful life with Kay-Stacks disease. Miracles have been known to happen, and you can bet your keester my husband and I are praying our petooties off that it may."

Her passionate ethical resolve notwithstanding, Mrs. Duncan's decision has been called into question by the medical community.

"She's a fool," stated Sara Friedman, Director of Pediatric Palliative Care at Johns Hopkins University, "Her child has a zero in a million chance of survival, and as for the possibility that its suffering might be mollified by the perception of its mother's love, I would consider the prospect remote as it goes blind, deaf and suffers the excruciating pain of having its muscles atrophy and body waste away as its brain calcifies until it mercifully succumbs to complete paralysis, can no longer swallow or digest food and perishes from the effects of starvation and complete organ failure."